Case Study: Insurance Company Competitive Analysis

For a major insurance company, Nautilus Systems conducted a geographic data distribution analysis of the company's client base compared to its competition. Competitive intelligence was derived from data mining sources of data not typically exploited by insurance companies, and mapping this information against in-house policyholder information.

Summary

Using the insurance company's policyholder data as a template, profiles of current and potential policyholders, underwriting, risk assessment (e.g., crime statistics, natural hazards), and franchise and sales performance were developed. Nautilus Systems used its proprietary data mining techniques to extract data matching these profiles from commercial database sources. The mined data were further analyzed using statistical methods, and the geographic distribution of the resulting information was plotted. GIS maps and tables included:

individual and corporate policy applications,

historical types of claims,

availability of and proximity to medical care facilities,

proximity of firefighting deployment points,

ethnic distribution of policyholders,

ethnic communities of policyholders,

socioeconomic metrics such as housing costs, housing values, property ownership, business ownership, and household income, and

location of hazardous areas.

Nautilus Systems delivered the final analysis as a geographic information system (GIS) presentation, mapping the distribution of the company's policyholders, the policyholders of its competitors, and its potential policyholders by geographic area, demographics, and ethnicity.

Benefits

The resulting analysis (1) identified targets of opportunity for policy sales, (2) identified ways to leverage sales of insurance lines through existing brokers, (3) identified areas for community reinvestment after the Northridge earthquake, and (4) identified ways to improve customer service and client support by restructuring and appropriately mapping customer service representatives' language skills to service areas. This provided the company with the strongest competitive intelligence and strategic planning material, enabling it to make strategic marketing decisions.